The Pulse
by Fremma
Summary: This is Jondy's story. An X5, she is also a witch. Specifically she was given Halliwell genes as part of her DNA...
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own any of Dark Angel or Charmed.

Chapter One

Inside Manticore. About 2006, X-5s are roughly 6 yo.

"Move out!"

The kids all did as they were told. It was all they'd ever known. Today they were on an exercise in the Manticore grounds, the group split into two working against each other to find and capture.

The group of eight moved together, quietly, corrdinated. Zack in the lead, they moved through the wood. Max shot Jondy a look, checking she was ready for anything. Jondy nodded quickly back.

Suddenly Zack signalled for a stop. They heard a slight noise from their right, enough warning for them to intercept the attack.

Jondy saw Brin coming for her. She readied herself for combat, and quickly blocked the first blow, ducking under to kick out at Brin's legs. Jumping over the attack, Brin turned back to her.

In the corner of her eye Jondy saw Max sparring with Krit. _Concentrate_. In that split second Brin managed to land a blow on her middle, knocking the air out of her. That annoyed her, she should be better than that. Straightening up, she spun round, kicking out at Brin, who grabbed onto her leg, flipping her onto her back.

She glared at Brin, and sprang back up to combat, only to have Max jump in at Brin from the side. But that left her undefended to Krit, and Jondy could see him advancing on them both. She couldn't move faster than him, but she was angry, and as she readied for his attack, she felt something inside her.

Suddenly Krit flew backwards. Max spun round, hearing him fall, then looked at Jondy with a confused expression on her face. Who had hit him?

All four of them were shocked, those that had seen it, but their training wouldn't let them let that stop their mission. With Krit down, Max and Jondy were able to subdue Brin and soon their group was able to capture their opponents.

Back at the base, none of them spoke of it. Jondy herself didn't know what had happened. Obviously their commanders hadn't seen anything, as none of them were ordered to report specially, and Jondy was taken out of the group.

_Am I a 'nomaly?_ Jondy thought to herself. She didn't fully understand what the 'nomalies were, but she knew they were different from her unit, and she didn't want to be one. But she did want to know what she had done, and how she had done it.

* * *

A month later.

Since that incident, Jondy hadn't made anything else move. But today they had been out on exercise again. She had been angry, and in the middle of a fight between herself and Zack, had thrown him backwards with her mind. They'd both known it was unusual, but neither wanted it to be noticed by Manticore, so they continued fighting, Zack winning. This time they couldn't ignore it.

That night, after lights out, Max and Zack took Jondy up to the High Place.

"What was that today soldier?"

"I don't know Zack. I don't know how I did it."

"It's happened before." Max looked apologetically at Jondy. "A few missions ago, she threw Krit."

"Is this true?"

"Yes. But I don't know how I did it!" Jondy was scared. She knew they wouldn't turn her in, but Zack was their leader, and she didn't want to disappoint him.

"What was the same both times? What could have triggered it?" Zack asked.

"We were in combat, both times."

"But we go into combat all the time, what was different about these?" Max asked.

"Um."

"No 'Um's soldier, you will report." Zack was stern, because he was worried about his unit.

"Come on Jondy." Max looked at her kindly. "Tell us."

"I was…angry." Jondy looked ashamed. "I wanted to win."

"We need to control this. Command can't know, they'll take you away." Max was determined not to lose her.

"You have to learn to control it." Zack pointed at both Max and Jondy. "You two work on it."

With that, Zack climbed back down from the High Place.

"How do we do this?" Jondy spoke first.

"Well first I think I have to piss you off." With that Max took a swipe at her.

"Hey!" Jondy blocked her. "We'll be found out!"

"Only if you keep opening your big mouth." Max hissed at her, throwing in another blow.

Jondy glared at her, and sank into a combat stance.

"Not like that." Max kicked at her hands. " With your _mind_."

She concentrated, and pushed. Max fell backwards, unable to anticipate the blow.

"Hey, I did it!"

"Step one, we know you can do it when you try. Now we have to make sure you can control it." They settled in for a night of work.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own any of Dark Angel or Charmed.

A/N. I haven't written in either of these fandoms before, so I would really appreciate some reviews! I'll try and update as often as I can.

Chapter Two

In the dormitories, they had a routine sorted out. Somebody always kept watch whenever they had anything they needed to do without letting command know.

Max and Jondy used every opportunity they could, up in the High Place, or in the dormitory, to help her practice. Max had tried to, wondering if it was something they'd all be able to do, after all hadn't they all been made together?

"It doesn't work." Max frowned. "Are you sure that's all you do?"

"I just concentrate, and push. That's all there is. Of course at first I had to get angry!" Jondy laughed, floating a pillow towards Max.

"Well it doesn't seem to work for me."

"You need less sleep than me. We're all a bit different."

"That's true."

And that's how they continued. Jondy got better at controlling her telekinesis, but they never told anyone, never allowed Manticore to know. Even through the torture they were put through, she wouldn't reveal her power.

* * *

Years passed, and they grew more restless, started asking more questions, amongst themselves at least. Zack resolved he would get his unit out of Manticore. They would escape.

"Escape to where?" Max asked. This base was all she'd ever known.

"I don't know. Somewhere they can't hurt us again!"

"But how? There are so many of them." Jace looked worried.

"We've just got to get past the wire. Some night soon, we'll break out. There's fewer of them about at night." Zack was determined and they all saw that.

That night, Jondy thought over what Zack had talked about. Could they really do it? Was there really a place where they wouldn't have to fight, wouldn't be hurt?

Weeks later, they all noticed Max getting the shakes. Jondy was scared, they took away the ones who got the shakes. They couldn't take Max away!

Then Zack stood up to protect Max. There were only two guards, and the 14 X-5s were more than a match for them. Even with Max unable to really help.

Eva snatched up a gun from one of the guards.

"Unit, move out!" Zack took the lead, Eva beside him. Moving down the corridor, Jondy helped Max behind them.

They got half way to the end of the corridor before the alarm sounded. Lydecker and a group of soldiers came around the corner. Eva aimed her gun at them, but hesitated. These people had been in charge her whole life.

The loud bang of Lydecker's shot at Eva set the group of X-5s to action.

"Eva!" Max, even in her weakened state moved to Eva's side as Zack took on Lydecker. Eva was dead. That made up Jondy's mind, she concentrated, and _pushed_ at Lydecker and his men. They all crashed to the floor down the corridor.

Taking the opportunity given to him, Zack directed the rest of the unit out of the window. The first of the them crashed through the glass, landing in the snow outside. But Jace hung back. Max signalled to her to join them, but she shook her head. Seeing that Lydecker wouldn't be down for long, Jondy dove headfirst through the broken window, Max right behind her.

They ran.

Out in the woods it was freezing. Literally. Even their genetic enhancements wouldn't stop them freezing eventually. They grouped in a clearing. Zack paired them up, and gave them different headings.

_No_. Max didn't want them to split up. Zack was emphatic that they had to. Jondy could understand why, but she wasn't happy about it. She pulled Max with her and they ran together through the snow.

They could hear gunfire and snowmobiles behind them. They didn't know what was happening to the rest of their unit.

They came out onto a frozen lake. It looked solid, and they couldn't afford to check. As they were running suddenly Max fell through the ice.

"Max!" Jondy couldn't believe this was happening. Was everyone going to be caught, or worse, killed? She couldn't see Max. She didn't surface. Was she dead already?

Hearing soldiers close behind, she made up her mind. If Max was dead, there was no point in getting herself killed too. If she wasn't, they wouldn't get her out of the lake in time if the soldiers were coming here. She took off, and the soldiers followed...


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own any of Dark Angel or Charmed.

I'd love some reviews please! Charmed characters will start featuring soon, I promise.

Chapter Three

Jondy kept running. Running kept her warm, but even she would get tired eventually.

In front of her, the fence. She looked behind and saw the headlights of the snowmobiles.

Springing at the fence, she climbed over, not caring about the barbed wire and dropped down into the outside world. Then she caught sight of the soldiers behind her. She quickly knocked them back with a thought and disappeared further into the forest.

The trees flashed past her, one by one, no more than a blur. Jondy didn't know where she was going; she was just running away from the base and the noises behind her.

Suddenly there was a road in between the trees. No cars.

_It'll be safer to stay away from the road. Too close to Manticore, _she thought, and with that she dashed across, and was away.

­­­­­­

In the early hours of the next morning, she came to the edge of a town. Jondy was cold and tired. Still alert for danger she scanned the area she could see.

_I can't stay here. It's still too close. But I need to rest. Where?_

She could see lots of buildings, but didn't know what each of them was for. Were some of them barracks? A mess hall? Jondy knew nothing of the world outside. She just knew that right now she couldn't afford to be seen by anyone.

Turning down the hill, she scouted round the back gardens of some houses. She was aware that her military issue gown would stand out in this cold – any human would have frozen by now wearing only that. Just inside the back door of one house she spied a coat. It was close enough and she risked it. A quick dash across the garden and the door was easily overcome. Taking the coat she sprinted away with her prize.

The coat was warm, and only a little too big. Jondy wandered further now, until she came to a gas station. Here things were beginning to wake up, although it was still dark. She watched as one car came in, filled up, and left, then she hunkered down to wait in a dark corner for another to come as she made her plans.

Fortunately it wasn't too long a wait. The next vehicle turned out to be a truck. When the driver went into the station to pay, she dashed over to the truck. In the back there were several boxes. One was half empty, with enough space for Jondy to crouch inside. She climbed in.

Hours later, the truck stopped again. Jondy hadn't slept, but she had at least been warmer and had been able to rest her legs. She didn't know where she was but it had to be further from Manticore. She crept out of the box and readied herself. But no-one came to the back of the truck. Instead the driver was walking away. She peeked out.

All she could see around her were more cars. Beyond them she noticed a large building, with a glass front. There were people coming in and out of the doors in the front. Too many people. She couldn't go that way. She crept around the cars, taking quick looks inside them. Snapping the aerial off one car, she finally spied one that looked like it had bags inside it. Using the aerial to break into the car, she rifled through the bags, finding some clothes that could fit her. She packed a few of them into one of the bags and closed the car up behind her. From another couple of cars she lifted some money, mostly small change, that she could see.

In a narrow gap between two large vehicles, Jondy quickly donned some trousers, a shirt and a hoody. Over the top she wore the coat again, even if it was too big for her it was still the warmest thing she had.

Now, warmer and more conventionally dressed, she was bolder. Finally she spied the last thing she needed. Shoes. In the back of one car were a pair of boots, and soon they were on her feet.

As she got closer to the building, she realised she could smell food inside. With the money she had in her pockets now she went inside, finding a hot sausage stand. With food inside her she felt a lot better. But she still needed to keep moving.

Back outside she considered her options. As she scanned the area she caught sight of a military van as a group of soldiers jumped out in front of her.

Instantly alert, she dashed between the cars. Several soldiers moved after her, others aimed weapons. Taking a zigzag path between cars, she just about held them off, until she came to the edge of the cars, suddenly there was a soldier cutting across her path. _I just need a few more seconds, I'm so close!_ Jondy threw up her hands and changed direction again. Then she realised she couldn't hear the soldier behind her. She looked back, and saw the group that had been close to her was frozen in place. _Did I do that?_

There were still other soldiers in the car park, so she kept running, out into the town.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own any of Dark Angel or Charmed.

A/N. Sorry, this one actually turned out really short. I will try and publish more as soon as I can.

Chapter Four

"So how do I look?" Phoebe asked her older sister, twirling around to show the flare of her red dress.

"Fabulous." Piper looked up from her cookie dough long enough to be sure that, as usual, her sister looked amazing.

"I just want tonight to be special." Phoebe looked at her watch, and picked up her purse. "You'll be ok with the kids?"

"We'll be fine! As soon as Leo gets back with them all, these cookies will be ready." Piper blew a piece of hair out of her eyes as she got a baking tray out. "They'll have a blast. You just go and enjoy your anniversary."

"Can you believe we've been married 3 years?"

"Yes I can, now go before you're late!" Piper shooed her sister out of the kitchen and out of the manor. For a minute she marveled at the quiet of the manor when she was alone. Not that she'd want it like this all of the time, it was reassuring to have noise about the place.

With that thought, she made up the batch of cookies onto the baking sheet, and put them in the oven. Only a few seconds later, the front door opened.

"Piper? We're home!" Leo was carrying a large bag, pushing a push-chair with one small sleeping child in it and surrounded by three more young children.

"Oh dear, you look exhausted!" Piper gave her husband an affectionate kiss. "Did this rabble tire you out?"

"We went to the zoo!" Chris ran to her and gave her a hug.

"Mommy, there were lions, look!" Wyatt held out a soft-toy lion for her to see.

"Leo!" Piper looked disapprovingly at her husband for the acquisition of yet another soft-toy, then turned to her son. "That's lovely! What else did you see? Did you show your cousins all the animals?"

"Hey, it's cute." Leo looked sheepish.

"We saw 'lephants!" The youngest of the three awake was a small girl with dark hair and eyes.

"Yeah, Poll, there were elephants too." Wyatt agreed.

"We all had a good time didn't we?" Leo was removing coats from the children and hanging them up. "Better get this one up to bed though, think she's been asleep all the way home."

Piper took the baby girl from Leo and headed up the stairs with her. The other three children all dashed into the kitchen.

"I can smell Mom's cookies!" Chris said enthusiastically. "Me too!" Wyatt was no less excited about the sugary treats.

"Wait boys! Go wash your hands first, then we'll see if Mom has any cookies to spare for your greedy mouths. Go on." Leo directed them back out of the kitchen. "You too Polly."

Obediently the children went. Leo watched them go fondly. His face dropped in dismay as he saw a warlock blink into the hallway with the children. "Wyatt, forcefield, now!"

The elder child immediately brought up his protective bubble, but it wasn't big enough for all of them. He and Chris were safe, and as Leo dived for Polly, he knew he wasn't quick enough. "Piper!"

Polly tried to run, but the warlock caught her.

And blinked out.

"Daddy, where'd that man take Polly?" Chris looked up at Leo.

He could only answer his son's question with: "I don't know."


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not own any of Dark Angel or Charmed.

A/N. I'm getting a bit more into the action of this story now. I hope it's liked, please please do review, it would make my day!

Chapter Five

Piper heard Leo calling her. "Piper!" She picked up her niece and ran down the stairs. She knew never to leave a child on their own when an emergency was happening in this house.

As she reached the top of the stairs she saw Leo reach for her other niece, as a warlock grabbed her and blinked out.

"Daddy, where'd that man take Polly?"

"I don't know." Leo looked up at her.

"Neither do I, but I know we're going to find her." Piper was scared, but determined. "They ought to know by now that we won't let them get away with something like this!" With that she turned back up the stairs.

After a couple of steps she turned. "Wyatt, Chris, come with me. I need you to stay with Patience for a while."

"Aw Mom. Can we have some cookies first?" Wyatt looked bored at the prospect of spending time with his baby cousin.

"No, but Daddy will bring you some up from the kitchen when they're done." Piper motioned them to follow her up the stairs. "Leo the cookies will be done in a few minutes, the timer's on in the kitchen. I'll bring the crystals down, can you bring the cookies up?"

"Sure honey." Leo was glad to have something to do. Being mortal he felt so helpless – especially as he hadn't been able to _do_ anything to stop his niece being taken in the first place.

* * *

"Paige!" Piper, still carrying baby Patience, stormed into the attic to pick up the crystals. "Paige, I need you!"

As she turned to go back out of the attic, a swirl of white orbs materialized in front of her.

"You rang?" Paige was wearing simple clothes, and a lot of mud.

"Where on Earth have you been?" Piper stopped and laughed, despite the situation. "You are absolutely covered!"

"Yeah well, turns out that doing anything anywhere in a monsoon involves wearing mud." Paige shrugged. "So what's up? Did Phoebe and Coop get off to their anniversary dinner ok?"

"They're fine." Piper started back down the stairs and Paige started to follow. "A warlock showed up a few minutes ago and took Polly. I'm just getting the rest of the kids into a crystal circle."

"What?!" Paige was shocked. "Who could that be, it's been so quiet recently?"

Piper stopped and looked back up at her. "You'd better have a shower quickly, then join me and Leo back up here. You don't want to catch cold, not in your condition. Is Junior with Henry?"

"Oh Piper don't mollycoddle me." Paige rolled her eyes at her older sister, but her hands went to her belly, a bulge showing. "And yes he is. They're both fine."

"Good. But I mean it about that shower. You're even starting to show now! I'm not letting you catch cold." Piper turned back down the stairs. "And I'm not having you traipse all that mud through the house either!"

"Well there are two in there this time." Paige rolled her eyes, but headed for the shower.

Piper reached the children, and set the crystals in a circle around them. She looked up as Leo came in carrying a tray of cookies, still warm from the oven. "You'll stay with them?"

"But, I can help." Leo looked downhearted.

"Maybe, when we know anything more, but someone needs to keep an eye on these guys while we can."

"I get it." Leo turned to the children. "Cookies anyone?"

"Yeah!" Chris reached up to his father for the sugary treats.

"Be good boys!" Piper blew them a kiss, and headed back up the stairs to the attic. She brought out the scrying map and crystals and started to concentrate.

Ten minutes later, Paige came up the stairs, looking distinctly cleaner.

"Did you find anything?"

"Nothing! I even fetched her teddy to try and strengthen the spell." Piper was worried. "Maybe we need Phoebe. She's her mother after all."

"She'll go nuts. We'd best make sure we've done everything else we can, before we let _that_ monster out of it's box." Paige started flipping through the Book of Shadows. "Right, here's the 'call a lost witch' spell. I'll give that a go."

"Good idea." Piper looked up from the map. "The ingredients are all up here. It may not work, they're probably shielding wherever she is."

"Well, we've got to try."

* * *

Polly looked up into the demon face of her captor. He was tall, with short, blonde hair, but he was obviously a demon – two small horns were sticking up out of the hair, and his eyes were slitted, like snake's eyes.

From behind her she heard a voice. "So now what? I brought you the brat, do what you want with her, then let me take her powers."

"You'll have to wait. This will take some time." The blonde demon looked irritated. "Why don't you come back later?"

"And have you squelch on me? No way!"

"Well then stop interrupting me." With that the blonde demon's face changed. He morphed into the face of Coop. "Come on darling. I need your help. Your powers are special, I just need you to open something for me."

Polly was scared. But this was her father. Maybe it had been him all along? "Why did you look funny?"

"I was hiding, Polly. I didn't want people to see me down here."

"But Mommy said-"

"Mommy's not here. We need to do this so we can get Mommy back."

"Where's Mommy?" The little girl's face crumpled, she sniffed. "I want Mommy back!"

"Shhh darling, we'll get her back, I just need your help."

Polly sniffed again. Still scared, she nodded.

"That's my good girl."

* * *

Jondy blurred round a corner, then stopped to look behind her. All clear. She wasn't home free, but she had breathing room. In front of her there was a small shop, which she entered slowly.

"Can I help you?" A middle-aged man looked at her kindly over the counter. Jondy just looked for a second, then replied, "no, sir."

"Okay then." The man smiled at her.

Jondy looked along the shelves but saw nothing that she recognized. What was a twinky? Nothing looked like the ration bars she was used to. Then she saw a shelf of fruit. Apples, she knew those. She took two, then saw the chiller cabinet with drinks. Again she didn't know what most of them were, but she took one that looked like water and put her finds on the counter.

"That'll be 3 dollars 87 please."

She pulled the few notes in her pocket out, and gave him a five dollar bill. As the man was counting her change, the door behind her opened.

Immediately she tensed, but she looked around slowly. It was a soldier, and she could see another was outside the door. Blurring, she turned back to the shopkeeper and vaulted the counter, heading for the door behind him. She heard shots behind, but none hit her.

As she burst through the back door into an alley behind, she saw more soldiers in front of her, bullets flew towards her as she blurred trying to dodge them. In all but one case, she succeeded. As one bullet hit her shoulder she knew she had to get out of there, so with her good arm she struck out at one of the soldiers, mentally pushing another away.

But more arrived and she knew she couldn't control the freeze she'd managed on the soldiers in the car park, but she wouldn't give in.

As she believed herself caught, white lights surrounded her and suddenly the scene around her faded.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I do not own any of Dark Angel or Charmed.

A/N. Sorry for the delay. Hopefully it won't be so long until the next chapter is ready!

Chapter Six

The white lights faded around her, and Jondy could see she wasn't in the shop anymore. Immediately she looked around for cover, and dived into some bushes by the side of the road. Looking around, she was in a street with nice-looking houses. It looked very different from anything she'd really ever known.

Each house was separate, with a driveway and at least one car. The street itself was quiet, it looked like there were no soldiers to find her immediately.

_Well I guess if I don't know where I've gone, they can't either. Where am I?_ Jondy crept up to the closest mailbox and opened it. There wasn't any real mail inside, but there was a paper. The Bay Mirror. Reading it quickly, Jondy soon decided that the place must be called San Francisco, and was a large city. Perfect, in fact, for her to hide amongst so many people. Right now though, she needed sleep more than anything.

Looking back at the house behind her, she noticed the garage at the side. Warily, she moved stealthily up the side of the house until she got to it, looking for the easiest point of entry. Quickly, hoping she wouldn't be heard, she forced the lock on the door.

Closing the door behind her, though it wouldn't lock anymore, Jondy was pleased to see a lot of dust on most of the contents. That meant that nobody came in here very often. Trying not to disturb too much of the dust, Jondy squeezed herself behind some of the boxes and machines, finding herself neatly hidden, she settled down to sleep.

* * *

Polly looked up at the frosted glass wall in front of her. She could see a shape behind it – kind of person-shaped. "It looks cold."

"It is a bit cold honey, but it won't hurt you, I promise." Her father looked at her and held out his hand. "Look I'll hold onto you the whole time."

"You do it Daddy."

"I can't." He looked up at the wall. "It has to be you, only you can save Mommy."

Biting her lip, Polly nodded, and reached out her hand to the wall. It was freezing. So cold it hurt her hand and she flinched away. Sticking her fingers in her mouth to warm them and comfort them, she started crying and look up at her father. His face, though, wasn't kind and comforting as it usually was when she hurt herself. It was angry, but quickly schooled itself again to calm.

"Now, little one, you remember what I said? We have to do this to save Mommy. You have to." He took her other hand and held it up. "You remember the words don't you? I'll say them with you when you touch the wall."

She was scared, but she didn't want to make her Daddy angry again. She allowed him to touch her hand to the wall. It hurt, and she cried out. But she remembered the words he had told her.

"One of Two

I can see

By my touch

You are free."

She couldn't feel her hand anymore. But at least it didn't hurt. But then her father pushed her hand back towards her and the frozen wall began to melt.

* * *

"Well that obviously didn't work! You have to face it Piper, we need to call in Phoebe."

"You're right." Piper looked defeated. "Maybe she can find her. I just wish we had something to go on, we know nothing!"

"We'll get her back. I'll get Phoebe." Paige gave Piper a comforting hug, then orbed out.

Piper looked down at the book in front of her. They'd tried everything they had used before. Paige had even reworded the lost witch spell to try and specify it to the family, that spell had even felt like it worked for a second, but nothing had come of it. Flicking through the pages of the book she felt useless. There were so many warlocks, and most didn't have their own page in the book of shadows, let alone a picture. _He must be working for someone else, higher up, or he couldn't block us. _But she could see no way of finding out who, or why. Suddenly she thought of something, and picked up the pen and paper that Paige had been using earlier.

Just then, orbs swirled in the room again, heralding the arrival of Paige and Phoebe.

"Polly!" Phoebe looked distraught. "Where's Patience?"

"Patience is safe downstairs. Leo's with her and the boys." Piper looked up from her writing. "I've had an idea, Paige would you give me a hand? Phoebe, you go check on Patience and the others, then come back up here, we'll need you."

As Phoebe fled down the stairs she was straining her empathic senses for any sign of her eldest daughter. She couldn't feel her sisters or Leo, but she could feel the children. And something else? Then she saw Leo.

"Phoebe!" Leo stood up and hugged her. "Any news?"

"Piper said she had some kind of idea. I don't know what. Where's Patience? " Phoebe pulled away and moved over to the cot. "I just had to see her, myself."

"I get it Phoebe. But she's fine, and she's got Wyatt here, and Chris, and me. We're all on alert now. Aren't we buddy?" Leo caught his son's eye.

"I'm sorry auntie Phoebe." Wyatt's voice was very quiet.

"This is not your fault honey!" Phoebe rushed over to him and gave him a hug. "Not your fault at all. Remember that! It's that warlock's fault, and we'll make sure he knows it!"

She put her nephew back down on the floor and turned to go back up to the attic. Again noticing that strange feeling in her empathic senses, she resolved to tell her sisters.

"Is there anyone else in the house?" Phoebe asked as she re-entered the attic.

"No, why?" Paige looked up at her.

"I can feel….something. I was trying to find Polly. But…" Phoebe looked distracted.

"Something, or someone? In the house?" Piper was sharp, worried. "Is there another warlock still here?"

"I don't think it's a warlock. But someone, yes. Someone very very scared. Close by." Phoebe shook her head. "Not Polly though. What was your plan?"

"Power of three spell. Kind of borrowed from the find a lost witch spell. But with you here, it can be worded to daughter, and be more specific and more powerful with the power of three." Piper handed Phoebe a piece of paper. "There's nothing more powerful, right?"

"Worth a shot. Let's do it." Taking the paper from her sister's hand, Phoebe concentrated on getting her daughter back.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I do not own any of Dark Angel or Charmed.

A/N. An update so soon, my muse must be in this week. The first element of the actual crossover! More will be explained later I promise (I do actually have the next chapter almost finished already, but I'll save it until I have some idea what I'm doing about the one after!).

A/N. Just clear up one point - Jondy didn't orb to San Francisco, she was summoned by one of Piper's spells.

Chapter Seven

"But what about that 'something' you sensed?" Paige asked worriedly. "That could be anything – being scared near us just means they probably know who we are, and are working against us."

"She has a point." Piper's gaze moved from one sister to another. "We ought to check it out. What if they're just waiting for us to be distracted, if the spell takes us to her instead of bringing her to us?"

"We can't leave her!" Phoebe couldn't bear the idea of her daughter in a warlock's hands. "We've got to get her back."

"Ok Phoebe. And we will." Piper walked towards the doorway. "Wyatt can protect the others. Leo can check it out. Leo!"

Leo leant his head out of the doorway to the kids' room. "Piper? What's going on?"

"Phoebe's sensed someone or something near the house, or even in it, not one of us, but very scared." Reaching her husband, she spoke quietly so as not to upset the children. "Can you get Wyatt to put his shield up, and go check out the rest of the house? We've got to try this power of three spell to try and get Polly back."

"Got it."

"Be careful." Piper dashed back up the stairs to the attic.

* * *

Polly nursed her hand. It burned like fire after touching that frozen wall. But her attention wasn't on her hand. She was staring up in terror at the monster in front of her, the one that had been behind the frozen wall. It was the size of a large, well muscled man, but the skin was blue. The eyes were the scariest. They were blue, completely blue, no white and no black.

"Where is Castor?" It spoke.

The blonde demon had reverted to it's own form. Polly knew now this was not her father. "He is yet trapped in the spell. But now we have freed you."

"Where is Castor?" It repeated, more ominously.

"We know where he is, above in the world, not down here. We have the witch's child, she could open your prison."

"Take me to him." It wasn't a request.

"Yes great one."

"But in the upper world, we'll be vulnerable." The warlock was whispering to the blonde demon. "The child could be taken."

"I will not be vulnerable." The blue man menacingly turned his gaze on the warlock. "Take me to him."

The blonde demon roughly picked up Polly, who was frozen in fear. Then he shimmered out, the warlock followed, blinking, and the blue man disappeared in a silent, bright flash of light.

* * *

Leo had been through the whole of the house and found nothing untoward. _Well, that leaves outside_. He slipped quietly out of the back door, keeping alert. As he came around to the back of the house, he couldn't see anything in the garden, but there were a lot of bushes. Anything could hide in there, so he proceeded carefully.

Knowing he could hardly search through the bushes quietly, he decided to hope whoever it was was friendly. "Anybody there?" Receiving no answer, he brushed through the bushes, finding nothing.

Leo worked his way round the side of the house, stopping when he reached the garage. The door looked slightly damaged. _This seems to be the place, and damage is never a good sign._ He watched the door for a minute, then crept forward as quietly as he could.

* * *

The blonde demon arrived first, shimmering in still holding Polly. The warlock blinked in at the same time as the blue man appeared in another silent flash of light, which made Polly blink hard because her eyes hurt.

In front of them was a grey symmetrical mountain peak. Polly looked again, because surely the mountain was smoking? No, it wasn't a mountain, a volcano, and there was a small amount of ash falling over them.

With a wave of his hand, the blonde demon revealed a door in the side of the volcano. "In here."

Following his lead, the group entered the volcano.

* * *

Each of the Charmed sisters put a drop of blood into the cauldron, and then chanted together.

"Blood to blood, we summon thee

blood to blood, return to us three."

There was a moment when they all held their breath. Then they saw white lights in front of them, and in the middle, was Polly. She looked slightly grey, with a covering of ash and was cradling her hand, but she looked up and saw the Charmed Ones. "Mommy!"

"Yes darling, it's me." Phoebe rushed to her and hugged her tight, causing Polly to scream in pain from her hand. "What's…Polly your hand! Paige!"

Paige moved closer, and could see that the hand was burnt all across the palm.

"Shhh darling, auntie Paige will make it better." Phoebe soothed her daughter, who was crying now, as Paige took her hand in hers and a warm glow showed between them. Gradually Polly's crying subsided into sniffles and Paige released her hand, fully healed. "I'm here Polly, I won't let anyone hurt you." Phoebe continued to comfort her daughter.

Paige moved back, to where Piper was standing. "She's covered in, it looks like ash?"

"Maybe Phoebe can get some idea of where she was taken from her." Piper looked at her sister suddenly. "Leo! I'll go, see if he's found anything."

"Shall I come?"

"No, Paige stay here with Phoebe and Polly, see what you can find out." Piper turned and quickly left the room.

* * *

Jondy woke with a start. She'd not got much sleep, but she was still alert enough that the increase in light by the slight opening of the garage door awakened her.

In the dark, she had the advantage. Her transgenic abilities allowed her to see very well in the dark, so when a man came in when the door was wide enough, she took the time to get a good look. He didn't look like Manticore. Wearing a plaid shirt and jeans, he was so very different from the soldiers she knew.

"Hello?" As he stumbled, in what to him was a dark garage, he called out. _He knows someone is here. He's looking for me!_ For an instant Jondy froze. Then she moved as she knew she had to get out. So fast she blurred, she moved over to him, and swiftly knocked him out.

Stopping for a second, checking he was out cold, she heard another noise.

"Leo?"

There was someone else coming. She didn't stop to pick up the glove she had dropped in getting to the man and flung open the garage door.

Coming round the side of the house was a woman, with long dark hair. As the woman saw her she flung up her hands, but Jondy didn't wait to find out what she was doing, and took off in the opposite direction down the street, in a blur.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I do not own any of Dark Angel or Charmed.

Chapter Eight

"Drat." Piper had tried to freeze as soon as she realised someone was coming out of the garage, but it hadn't worked. It looked like a child, head completely shaven, but then it had moved away so fast that it looked like a blur. That certainly wasn't natural.

"Leo? You ok?" Looking through the open door she saw that her husband was flat on the floor. Checking him over, she was relieved that he was only unconscious. "Paige? Get down here!"

Turning her attention back to Leo, she tried to wake him. Just as orbs appeared, signalling Paige's arrival, Leo stirred with a groan.

"Leo? Can you hear me?" Piper was holding his head, and Paige moved closer. "He was knocked out cold and he's got a huge lump on his head."

"Did you see what it was?" Paige asked as she bent down to heal Leo's head.

"I'm not really sure…" Piper kept her eyes on her husband, who was grimacing in pain. "It looked like a child, but it must have hit Leo hard, and I couldn't freeze it. I'm going with something magical, probably demonic. Leo honey are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, thanks Paige." Leo nodded at his sister-in-law in thanks. "I didn't even see whoever it was before I got hit, the garage was too dark to see properly."

"Hey, that's not ours, is it?" Paige pointed at the glove on the floor.

"I don't think so. Maybe it got left behind?" Piper reached over and picked up the glove before helping Leo to his feet. "Since when do demons wear gloves?"

"If they're pretending not to be demons?" Paige said pointedly.

"I don't know, Phoebe said she felt fear. Why would a demon be hiding in the garage anyway?" Leo asked.

"Who knows?" Paige headed back towards the house. "But we'd better check out Polly first."

* * *

"Coop! Finally you're here." Phoebe looked up at her husband from where she was holding her eldest daughter on the floor of the attic.

"Well somebody had to settle the bill." Coop took in the scene in front of him. "She's back then? What happened?"

"A power of three spell worked. But she was hurt." Phoebe looked down at Polly. "You're ok now honey. Can you tell me what happened?"

Polly's eyes moved quickly between her mother and father. She held on tight to Phoebe, but kept watching Coop. "Are you Daddy?"

"Of course I am sweetheart. Why wouldn't I be?" Coop crouched down beside the two of them.

"You changed."

"Polly? What do you mean?" Phoebe drew her attention.

"Daddy was mean."

Phoebe looked up at her husband. "When was this?"

"In the cave. With the cold man." Polly looked upset, so Phoebe shushed her and comforted her again.

"A shapeshifter maybe?" Coop was distressed at the idea of someone looking like him to hurt his daughter. "But why?"

"I don't know, but I don't think she's going to be able to tell us much more." Phoebe smoothed her daughter's hair on her head. "She's too upset."

"We need to get to the bottom of this." Coop stood up and helped Phoebe up with Polly.

"We do, and I have an idea." Paige came into the room. "Phoebe, do you think you could use your empathy power to channel her thoughts? Maybe get an image of what she saw?"

"I don't know." Phoebe looked worried. She spoke quietly as Polly was still clinging to her. "It might still upset her. What did you find downstairs? It's not as close as it was."

"Whoever or whatever it was, knocked Leo out and ran off." Paige glanced back towards the stairs. "Piper couldn't freeze it – she said it looked like a child."

"So it's magical, a demon immune to your powers?" Coop asked.

"We don't know. But we have a glove we think was left behind." Paige held it up. "I can try and scry for it, but I'm not even sure it's connected."

"Maybe we need to do both." Coop looked between the two sisters. "If it is connected, we need to know. And the only way we can know that is if we know as much as possible about each of them."

"We can try." Phoebe stroked her daughter's hair, looking at her. "We can try can't we darling, you'll help Mommy stop anyone doing this to you again?"

Polly looked worried at these words, but nodded slowly, then buried her face in her mother's shoulder.

"Come on, we'll find you somewhere comfortable to try it." Coop directed Phoebe and Polly down the stairs. "Any of Piper's cookies about the place for Polly?"

"There's a fresh batch in with the kids in the bedroom." Paige smiled at them. "We'll figure it out Phoebe. I promise."

* * *

Phoebe sat on the bed with her daughter in front of her, facing her. She reached for a tissue, and wiped Polly's face, where a trace of chocolate from the cookie had remained. "I love you," she said as she kissed her daughter's face.

Taking Polly's hands in her own, she spoke. "Close your eyes Polly, and just relax. I'm going to try and remember with you what happened tonight, but it's not real, ok? You're safe here with me now."

Polly just nodded, but she closed her eyes. Phoebe closed her own eyes and concentrated. She could feel Polly's fear, her empathic power working for her children as it didn't on her sisters since they'd taken that potion years ago. Pushing all other thoughts aside, she concentrated on Polly's fear. _What do you fear?_

_Him._ An image flashed in Phoebe's mind. A tall, muscled, blue man.

_What happened to your hands?_ Polly flinched when Phoebe sent that idea to her. In return she received a feeling of cold and pain and an image of a glass wall. The images continued and she saw Coop's face, then the face of a demon, with horns, snake eyes and blonde hair.

_A frozen wall?_ Phoebe thought to herself. The wounds on Polly's hands could have been cold burns. Then she got one last image from her daughter, of the wall melting, revealing the blue man behind. At this point Polly burst into tears.

Still empathically connected, Phoebe sent her feelings of love and warmth before closing the connection. Opening her eyes she saw Coop standing in the doorway as she held her daughter. "It's ok now honey, Mommy's got you."

* * *

In a cave inside a volcano, the heat was oppressive. And so was the tension.

"I told you we were vulnerable up here!" The blonde demon shouted at the blue man. "Now we don't have any way to open his seal."

"We will find another witch."

"But it has to be one of that family, and they'll be waiting for attacks now!"

"We will find another." The blue man gazed calmly at the glass wall in front of him, a figure just visible behind it. He held up one hand in front of the wall, not touching it. "I will free you, my brother."


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I do not own any of Dark Angel or Charmed.

A/N. I'm finding it quite hard to get Jondy to speak, the kids in DA always seem so quiet…forgive me if the next chapter takes a little longer to get done, especially as work just got busy too!

Chapter Nine

Phoebe was thinking only about the demon that had hurt her child when she entered the attic, only to find her sisters with a scrying crystal and map hard at work. "What are you scrying for? Or at least, what are you scrying with?"

"The glove we found in the garage." Piper left Paige to the scrying and joined Phoebe by the Book of Shadows. "It was the only lead we had. Unless you have something more?"

"Well, I have a picture to work with. Not much more." Phoebe pulled out the sketch she'd made of the blue man she'd seen in her connection with Polly. "It's got something to do with this guy. I think some other demon used Polly to break some seal around him?"

"Well you see if you can find him in here. Has Leo seen this?" Piper took the sketch from Phoebe when she shook her head. "Well if he was sealed up like that maybe it's something he or the Elders might know about."

"It's worth a try." Phoebe started flipping the pages in the book. It still surprised them what they could find in it, though it felt as though they should know the book cover to cover by now.

* * *

In the dark, Jondy turned to the one dark building she could see. Deciding this must mean it was empty, she moved up to the doors and listened carefully. The quiet reassured her, trusting her hearing that she knew would tell her if there was anyone inside. The doors themselves were unlocked, so she slipped inside.

It was dark, and slightly echoic. Jondy's low-light vision allowed her to see the high ceiling and rows of benches with an aisle leading up to an altar. To Jondy this meant nothing, but she caught sight of a door to the left of the altar. Moving silently, she went through it. Behind it was a smaller room, with several cupboards, a table and chair in the centre and a bench along one wall. Breaking open the cupboards she found a wardrobe full of robes of different colours, and in another several decorated cups and plates, also some bottles of wine and boxes of wafers.

Even though it was warmer here than it had been just outside Manticore in Wyoming (she'd seen the numberplates on the cars as she'd been running) and it was supposed to be spring, it was still cold, and this building obviously wasn't heated. Jondy took the robes she'd found and made herself a bed on the bench. Settling down, she finally got some sleep.

* * *

Paige yawned, for the fourth time since Phoebe had joined her in the attic.

"Honey you're exhausted." Phoebe was watching her. "You can't concentrate if you're so tired you can't think. We've got Polly back now, and we've got the crystals set up to warn us if anything comes here. I think we've got the time to sleep."

"May-" Paige yawned again. "Maybe you're right. Did you find anything in the book?"

"Nothing that looks like what I saw." Phoebe looked worried.

"Well as you say, Polly is safe for now, so I think you should get some sleep too." Paige took her by the arm, away from the book. "We'll try again in the morning. The proper morning anyway, it's 4 am!"#

"I guess you're right." The pair of them made their way downstairs, in time to see Piper coming out of the children's room. As she saw them, she put her finger to her lips. Looking in, they could see all the children asleep, and one on a seat and another on the floor, Leo and Coop were also sleeping.

* * *

Jondy woke to the sound of a door opening. Instantly alert, she sat up in time to see a woman enter, dressed in a black and white dress. When she saw Jondy, she dropped the tin she was carrying.

"Oh! What's going on?"

Assessing the woman, Jondy decided she was not a large threat, her appearance wasn't military in any way, and Jondy knew that she was stronger than any women she'd come across at Manticore.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?" The woman's voice was startled, and somewhat disapproving. "Look at the mess you've made!"

Getting no vocal response, the woman softened a little. The child looked scared. "What's your name, love?"

"X5-210." Jondy automatically came out with her number. She had never used her name with anyone but her sibs.

"What's that? I meant your name? I'm Sister Katherine." Sister Katherine held one hand to her chest as she spoke, then held it out to the child in front of her. "What are you called?"

She was outside Manticore. Maybe if she didn't use her number, it would be ok? "Jondy."

"Well Jondy, let's get this mess cleaned up shall we?" The Sister started to pack the robes back into the wardrobe. "You must be hungry if you've been here all night? Well. Once we've got this a bit tidier, then we'll go get you some food yes?"

Jondy looked up at her. She had been eyeing the door, wondering if she should run, but her stomach rumbled at the mention of food.

"It certainly sounds like you're hungry!" The child looked so wary that Sister Katherine's heart went out to the young girl she'd found. "Just give me a minute, and, there we are! All tidy again. Right then, here we go, follow me, I'm sure the Reverend has some bits kept in here…"

The Sister continued talking, but Jondy was mostly keeping an eye on where she was being led. They moved through the church, to another door she hadn't noticed last night. Through here there was a small meeting room and a kitchen. Opening the cupboards, Sister Katherine found some packets of cookies and tea and coffee. "Now you could probably do with a warm drink after a night in the cold vestry! I'll make you some sweet tea."

Taking a packet of cookies from her, Jondy tore into it and wolfed down a couple. As she did so she continued to watch as Sister Katherine busied herself, still chatting happily, making some tea.

* * *

As she put the coffee pot on, Piper flipped on the tv for the morning news.

"-for the juveniles that escaped the detention centre in Wyoming last week. The authorities describe the 12 children that escaped as dangerous and ask anyone who has any information to call in to the police. In other news, unusual activity has been reported in the Colima volcano in Mexico. Experts flown in yesterday are baffled by the unexpected activity and say they are unable to predict whether an eruption is imminent. Closer to home we have the weather report with Matthew Clancy."

"Thank you Sarah. As we move into March I can happily say that the cold spell will be easing off in the next couple of days. Today we can look forward to sunny spells with a high of-"

The coffee pot came to a boil and at the same time the toaster popped. Piper put the toast out on a plate, then poured two mugs of the coffee. Picking them up she took them up the stairs to the attic, where she found Phoebe already back at work at the Book of Shadows.

"Did you find anything?"

"No." Phoebe sighed and looked up. "Oh you're fabulous Piper, thank you!"

"Well, none of us got much sleep last night, so I think coffee is in order to get us through this morning." Piper paused to take a sip of her own coffee. "At least we had no more intrusions in the night. How's Polly?"

"She's fine. Coop's with both her and Patience, letting them sleep out."

Just then Paige came in the room, with another mug of coffee. "Thanks for making this sis. I'm going to start back up where I left off."

Piper followed her over to the scrying table she'd set up the night before. Taking the crystal and the glove, Paige leant over the map, circling the crystal. After a minute, the crystal suddenly dropped. "Aha!"

"Did you get something?" Phoebe looked over.

"I think we have something." Paige looked closer at the spot the crystal dropped on. "Seems to be at St James' church."

"Right, I'll make sure the boys are set to look after the kids, then we'll orb over there." Piper dashed out of the room.

Phoebe picked up a couple of vials from the table behind her. Both had red potion in them.

"What's that?" Paige asked.

"Stun potion." Phoebe showed her the vials. "Piper couldn't freeze whatever it was last time, and I want to be able to talk to it. I want to know what's going on."

Piper came back into the attic, saying: "the boys are all set and safe with the kids. Let's go."

The three charmed sisters linked hands, and Paige orbed them out.


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I do not own any of Dark Angel or Charmed.

A/N. Sorry it's been so horrendously long! Everything is a little hectic right now at work, and it's leaving me little time to get pen to paper. (Or fingers to keys.) And for those of you wondering, no the church and nun in my story are not the same ones that Paige was left with as a child. That would be too much coincidence!

Chapter Ten

Balls of white light appeared in the alleyway, bringing the charmed sisters with them. Looking up, they saw they were next to a church.

"Here?" Phoebe looked up at the building, then back at her sisters. "Well let's get inside then."

Entering the church, they found it quiet.

"She-it was hiding out in the garage. No guarantee it'd be out in the open." Piper nodded to the doors they could see. "We'd better check all over."

* * *

"Milk, dear?"

Jondy nodded. She watched as Sister Katherine added milk to the mug of tea, then heaped a teaspoon of sugar into it.

"Now, my dear, where did you come from?" As she handed Jondy one mug, she sat down with another for herself. "What about your parents?"

Jondy didn't respond. Parents? She didn't know what the woman was talking about. It was safest not to talk.

"Now me, I'm Sister Katherine, as I told you before. I'm a nun her, but I'm from a little place originally, just down the coast."

Jondy was only half listening to her. As she was sipping the hot tea, she heard a noise from beyond the meeting room. She put her tea down and moved to get up, to the surprise of Sister Katherine, but before she could say anything the door behind her opened and a woman appeared in the doorway, throwing her hands up in front of her.

Jondy recognised her – the woman from the house! She was being tracked, and there was no other way out of the room. Then she noticed that the nun had frozen in place.

"She didn't freeze, it's just like before." The woman called back out of the doorway and two other women followed her through. Jondy dropped into a combat stance, ready and willing to fight for her freedom. No troops or guns? They'd pay for that oversight. Starting her move on the woman close to her, she didn't see the woman at the back throw something at her. She saw it soon enough to deflect it to the ground, but there it smashed and she immediately felt her body sag and she fell to the floor.

Paige looked at the child on the floor, the result of the stun potion. "She's just a kid." Looking at her, face down on the floor, Paige noticed something odd – a barcode on the back of her neck.

"We've been fooled before – some demons look just like kids." Piper looked down at the nun, then back at Phoebe.

"Yes we have." Phoebe came forward, between her sisters. "She's definitely magical, she didn't freeze."

"Well first, we'd best get her back to the Manor." Piper motioned to Paige, who sighed, then put one hand on the child and held the other out to her sisters.

Orbing back to the Manor was simple, and she landed them in the attic, right where she knew they'd left the crystals. Paige picked two of them up, as her sisters picked up the other three, but she didn't place them with theirs. She couldn't just cage up a child like that. It was wrong, they didn't even know the child was a demon – and even if she was, they'd helped that demon baby, years ago. Or what if she was actually a witch?

"Paige?" Piper looked at her questioningly.

"There must be a way we can be sure what she is? What if she's not a demon? She's not actually done anything more than break into the garage." Paige looked at Phoebe. "You could try to get a premonition from her."

"That won't be easy." Phoebe paused. "But I guess I can try." Closing her eyes, she concentrated on her power and focussed, before reaching out to touch the girl's arm.

_-A witch, burning at the stake, but a stealthy individual was stealing away with some of her hair._

_-A group of scientists, with a pregnant woman, in labour._

_-"Huh!" A room full of children practising some kind of martial art._

_-A line of children in military fatigues, a blonde man inspecting them._

_-The girl fighting another child, throwing her opponent away with magic._

_-A group of children running through snow, chased by bullets._

_-The child running out of the manor, to be grabbed by a blonde demon._

_-A blue man standing over the child, her hand on a hot glass wall._

_-A volcano erupting-_

Phoebe gasped and pulled her hand away from the child. She looked so shaken that Paige sat her in a nearby chair.

"What did you see?" Piper asked. "Is she a demon?"

Shaking her head, Phoebe just breathed for a moment to regain her composure. "She's not a demon, but-"

"But what?" Paige encouraged as she faltered.

"But I don't know that she's completely human." Phoebe thought for a minute. "It was all fragmented. I'm not sure, I think maybe she grew up in a military facility, trained by them. I think she has some witch in her. From what I saw she's pretty powerful – physically more than a human, and I saw some telekinetic power too. What I didn't feel was any presence of demon."

"Powerful?" Piper frowned, worried. "Perhaps the crystals would be a good idea. She didn't seem to like the idea of coming with us."

"I'll set them out, we'll just have to wait until she wakes up – she's not hurt but she'll be out for a few more hours." Paige placed the crystals around the girl.

"Can you tell us anything more about her?" Piper was looking carefully at Phoebe.

"I saw… I'm not really sure what it all means." Phoebe shook her head. "But I felt a lot of pain, confusion, and loss. All from her.

But I did see something else. Something from the future, not the past."

"You saw both the future and the past?" Paige asked, having finished placing the crystal circle.

"Yes. I'm not sure how, but I know all of the military scenes I saw were the past. In the future I saw her run, away from us, to be caught by a demon. Then I saw her in pain, held by the same demon I saw in my premonition from Polly."

"The blue guy?" Paige asked.

"Yeah." Phoebe looked sadly at the girl on the attic floor. "I don't know what they were doing with her, but it was bad. And big. We need to find out who this guy is, and soon."


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I do not own any of Dark Angel or Charmed.

A/N. I'm not sure about this chapter. Please tell me what you think!

A/N. I'm so sorry for the horrendously long wait for an update! My only excuse is that I have been planning and executing two large scale experiments, and they have rather dominated my time. In fact given I've got 6 months of my PhD left and should really be writing my thesis rather than this, progress will undoubtedly be slow. Although Twelve is nearly ready…

Chapter Eleven

Three women had stormed into the little kitchen and Sister Katherine had frozen still. Not even stopping to wonder how that had happened, she had taken a combat stance. Then one of the women had thrown a small vial which had smashed at her feet. Then, blackness.

Now waking up, Jondy found herself on a hard, wooden floor. She still felt a little fuzzy from whatever had knocked her out, but she knew she was in enemy territory. Opening one eye slightly, she could see clear space around her. She wasn't locked up? With that, she eyed the door and readied herself.

Jondy jumped up, to the obvious surprise of the brunette woman showing an early bump of pregnancy standing at a bookstand in the room. She started to run towards the door, but couldn't even take a full step before she ran into some barrier. It felt like an electric fence, or a taser. The energy jolted Jondy, and with the effects of the stun potion still in her system, it triggered a fit of tremors.

"Piper! Phoebe!" The brunette woman ran over from the bookstand.

Jondy was still shaking. She had seen this happen to others of her squad before. They all had. Normally the tremors started in a small way, just a shaking of a hand. But the combination of stun potion and energy jolt seemed to have started them in her, not to mention the injury in her shoulder. These tremors scared her as she was still in captivity. Other kids with the tremors had been taken away as 'nomalies. She did know what they were though, they'd been taught enough medical training and overheard enough about the other cases to know what she needed.

"Milk." It was easier to say only one word.

The other two women, presumably Piper and Phoebe, came running into the room.

"What happened?"

"She tried to run, but the crystals stopped her." The woman who had been at the bookstand handed several vials to the other two. "Then she fell down and it looks like she's having a fit or something. I have to help her."

"Surely she shouldn't even be awake already?"

"I don't know how she is, but you keep guard with those stun potions, I'm going to open the crystal cage." With that the first woman picked up a crystal from the floor around Jondy, and she saw a field of light around her suddenly flare to life, then retreat. She then came closer. Jondy tried to move away, but couldn't get very far with the tremors still running through her. "Milk."

"What? Just hold still, I'll help you." She placed her hands on Jondy, who was surprised to see a light appear beneath them. After a few moments the tremors slowed, and stopped. And not only that, her shoulder felt better too.

"Well she's human enough, I could heal her." Looking back at the other women, she replaced the crystals, then stood up and moved back.

Jondy looked at her guardedly. She knew enough from her lessons that she was human, mostly.

"And that wasn't all." The one who had healed her was talking quietly, enough so that a normal child wouldn't have been able to hear her. "She had a gunshot wound in her shoulder."

"I told you she'd been shot at." The other woman kept her voice low also. "Now do you believe me that she's running from someone?"

Jondy was able to hear what they were saying easily. But she was confused by that comment. Of course she was running, they were chasing her.

"How do you feel now?" Receiving no answer, the woman continued. "I'm Paige. These are my sisters, Piper over there, and Phoebe here."

Jondy just continued to watch her. She knew that in a capture situation, she should tell the enemy nothing. As far as she was concerned, these people were the enemy.

Paige and Phoebe shared a look. Phoebe turned to Jondy, with a careful look on her face. "I'm sorry you were hurt by the crystals, but we need to know who you are, why you were here before?"

"X5-210." Jondy's eyes glazed over slightly as she came out with this statement.

"What does that mean?" Paige looked confused.

"Name, rank and number, right?" Phoebe looked up at Paige. "With her military background that I saw, I'd imagine that's what she'd have been taught. Except I think all we're getting is the number part."

"We're not going to hurt you. We want to help, but we hope you can help us too?"

"X5-210." Jondy's voice was reduced to a monotone.

"Ugh, we're getting nowhere with this." Paige stood up grumpily.

"Paige." Phoebe called to her, warningly. "I think we're going about this the wrong way. Think of it from her point of view, if she's running from where she grew up, now we've got her in a cage. She's a prisoner again."

Jondy's eyes snapped up to look at Phoebe.

"You're on the run aren't you?" She got no response, but Phoebe continued anyway, now that she seemingly had the girl's attention. "I don't know who you're running from, but I will tell you what I do know. I know that you have magical powers. You can move things with your mind can't you? And I know this, because I have a magical power too. I can see things, from the past and from the future. I saw you, you and other children like you."

Jondy listened. This woman, Phoebe, seemed to know about the secret she'd kept hidden from Manticore. Only her sibs had known about her power.

After pausing, to let the girl absorb her first statements, Phoebe continued. "We all have powers. Paige can move things, differently from how you do, but she can."

In demonstration, Paige called for a book from the other side of the room. "Book."

Seeing the book appear in Paige's hand, Jondy was surprised. They really did have powers. But she still had no reason to trust them, she only re-evaluated her captors. She didn't really know how powerful they were.

"And Piper can freeze things." Paige threw the book up in the air, allowing Piper to freeze it where the girl could see.

This startled Jondy, but she didn't let it show. This Piper could freeze things? Was that the same as had happened to those soldiers? Did she have this same power?

"So you see in some ways we're quite like you." Phoebe was still watching her closely. "Maybe you could tell us a little about yourself, so that we can try and help you?"

Can't give any information. "X5-210." The rule was so deeply ingrained, it took no thought to obey it. As far as Jondy was concerned, she was still a captive.

Sighing, Phoebe looked sad. "I don't think we'll get anything more out of her."

"Well then what do you want to do?" Piper replied. "We can't exactly keep her here forever."

"Maybe a peace offering?" Phoebe turned back to Jondy. "Are you hungry? How about we take away the crystals and we go get some food?"

"Phoebe!" Piper hissed at her sister. "What about the kids?"

"They'll be fine, they've got Leo, and Wyatt's shield." Phoebe didn't look away from Jondy's face. "What do you say?"

Still getting no response, she turned to Piper again. "Why don't you go get some food, and bring it up here. Then we'll have lunch up here with her."

"I guess. I just hope we don't end up hurt." Piper went to leave. "You know, I never thought I'd think this, but I we may have to ask the Elders what the hell is going on."

"Maybe later, as a last resort." Paige snorted. "Likely as not they wouldn't know anything anyway. They never knew about me until after Prue died."


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I do not own any of Dark Angel or Charmed.

A/N. Please review! I'd love to have some comments and know what you think of this!

Oh and again, sorry for the slow speed of update. Real life gets in the way sometimes. I am trying to keep going with this.

Chapter Twelve

Piper carried the tray up the stairs, trying not to worry about what they planned to do. They still knew very little about this girl, she could be anything. But she had to admit, they didn't really have any evidence that she was evil. Hostile, yes, but that didn't always mean evil.

Walking into the attic, she noted that the girl was sitting in the crystal cage. Alert and ready by the looks of it, despite the fit she'd had earlier. The girl's eyes flicked to her as she came in the room, and Piper felt unnervingly like she was being sized up and assessed. Phoebe was by the book of shadows, and Piper went to join her, putting the tray down on the table nearby.

"Found anything?"

"Not really." Phoebe sighed, looking up. "Whatever it was I saw, there's no picture of it in here. And none of the descriptions sound familiar."

"Well, from your description of what happened with Polly, I'd say the theory that it's something old that's escaped is probably fair." Piper felt a chill go through her. "Like the Titans all over again."

"I think you're right." Looking at the tray Piper had brought, Phoebe's stomach growled. "But first things first. I'm starving, although I'm not sure if it's just my own hunger I'm feeling."

Following Phoebe's glance across the room, Piper saw that the girl was watching them. "Well no time like the present, right?"

"Right."

Phoebe moved over to the crystal cage. "Now I'm going to remove the crystal, because I don't think keeping you in there is helping either of us."

Matching actions to her words, Phoebe picked up the nearest crystal in the circle, and then put it down to one side. The girl watched her carefully, obviously tense and stood up slowly.

"Come over here and eat with us. I know you're hungry." Phoebe beckoned to her. "You don't have to answer any questions right now. But you're going to have to talk to someone sooner or later. I know you're running, but you can't just keep running forever."

Letting these words sink in, Phoebe sat down at the table, indicating another low chair for the girl. They were using a small table they sometimes used for making potions in the attic. It wasn't the dining room, but it was as good a place as any to parley.

The girl looked down at the table and tray of food warily. She was obviously considering the need to run against her desperate hunger. Casually, Phoebe turned to Piper. "Could you pass the bread please?"

Passing it to her, Piper kept at least one eye on the girl, but took a plate for herself and filled it with a few things. She tried to keep the food simple, but didn't know what would be accepted, so there were lots of pots and plates on the tray. Some cheeses, ham, boiled eggs, different pots of salad, a bowl of chips and several dips were just the beginning. Taking the jug of water, she poured herself and Phoebe a glass each, then after a short hesitation, poured one for the girl, placing it in front of her at the table.

"Mmmm, thanks Piper." Phoebe had made herself a cheese and salad sandwich and was tucking in happily. "Would you like some bread?" With this she offered the basket of bread to the girl.

After looking at the basket for a minute, then looking at Phoebe and Piper each quickly, she took it. Having evidently made her decision, she sat down and helped herself to the food.

"Piper's cooking is wonderful. She's a chef you know." Not knowing how much the girl was listening, Phoebe continued. "This is her house, well it's the family house really, we grew up here."

"We get our powers from our family. Our ancestors were all witches too." This got a flicker of a response from the girl. "Magic often works that way, passed on from one generation to the next."

Piper kept quiet, allowing Phoebe the chance to just talk to the girl, without interruptions. In truth, she didn't really know what to say, but was content to listen along to Phoebe, watching for reactions from the girl.

"All three of us – myself, Piper and Paige – have powers we inherited from the family. Telekinesis for Paige, freezing time for Piper, and premonition for me. These are all traditional powers in our family, for instance our Mom had the same power as Piper, and our Grams had telekinesis, like Paige."

"But we haven't always had our powers. In fact, for a long time we didn't know we had powers at all. When we did inherit them, it was a bit of a shock! Learning to control a power is important. As is keeping magic a secret."

"You see, non-magical people tend to find magic somewhat frightening. That or they want magic to solve all of their problems. Neither of which is a very good situation. We don't want to scare people, nor can we provide for everyone else."

"Maybe you know where your magic comes from? In the family perhaps?" Another flicker. "Here, would you like some more potato salad?" Phoebe smiled at the girl as she offered the bowl to her.

"You know it would be much nicer if we had something to call you by other than that number you gave us earlier." Phoebe smiled at the girl as she looked at her over the potato salad. "We don't want to hurt you. I think really it's all a bit unfortunate. You just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"You see somebody abducted one of my children and we only just got her back home." The girl seemed to react to this. "We were all a little scared that you were one of the people who had taken my daughter."

"But I don't think you are. I think you're running from something."

This got a response. An angry look. It was gone as soon as it had arrived, but Phoebe had been watching.

"Maybe we could help you? I don't know what you're running from, but we can certainly help you learn about your magic."

At this the girl looked up from her plate of food to study Phoebe warily. "Training?"

"If you want guidance, we can give it to you." Phoebe's heart had lifted when the girl spoke, even if it was only one word. The girl seemed to consider this, fear warring with need in her eyes.

* * *

"I got this sketch from Phoebe. This is who she saw in her premonition." Paige passed the paper to Leo. He wasn't their whitelighter anymore, but that didn't mean he didn't often have useful information for them anyway.

Leo studied the image for a long time. "Leo?"

"Sorry Paige." He passed the sheet back to her. "I'm just trying to remember….it's familiar, I think from an old legend. Something about a powerful demon…."

"What about a powerful demon Leo?" Paige raised her voice as Leo trailed off into thought again. "If it's legendarily powerful we need to know what it is right now!"

"Phoebe said it had been released from some prison?" Thoughtfully Leo rubbed his chin. "I can't be sure. There are several legends about demons trapped by the light, and the face is familiar, but I can't remember a name."

"If I orb you over to magic school, could you look it up perhaps? We've come up blank in the Book of Shadows."

"Well I'm still watching the kids-"

"Oh Henry's not busy today, he can do that." Paige waved her hand dismissively at him. "If you want your wife off defcon 6 then you want to get some information for her on this guy. At this rate she won't trust the paperboy to be in on the conspiracy."

"She's doing what?" Leo looked alarmed.

"Oh it's just the girl we brought back. Piper's still convinced she's a demon part of the kidnapping plot…."

"And you know that she isn't?"

"Well between Phoebe's premonition and empathy power, not to mention the fact that the kid is just plain scared, I think yeah, she isn't part of it." Paige put her hands on her hips and looked directly at Leo. "Those clothes she's wearing clearly aren't even hers. She looks like she's on the run. She doesn't need someone hounding after her!"

"Hey I'm not accusing her, but you have to admit it's a bit of a coincidence her turning up here in the middle of a crisis."

"When aren't we having a crisis in this house?" Paige suddenly had a thought strike her. "I've actually got a bit of an idea about that coincidence….something Phoebe said about her premonition."

"Okay, but maybe you could go and get Henry?" Leo glanced upwards. "The sooner we get started on this the sooner Piper might be convinced that not everybody is out to get us."

"Right! Sorry. Be right back!" With that, she orbed out. Leo gave a small sigh and picked up a bottle of juice for Polly.


End file.
